Previous blog posts in this series have explored the people and processes that are coming together to make the smart city vision a reality. It will not be shocking to those who know me that I instead chose to focus on technology. For more than 30 years at Black & Veatch, I have been working with talented teams to solve complex problems using innovative technology. We have seen a lot of change, but nothing that comes close to the speed and scale of technological advancement that is happening today.

I like to think about this transformation in the context of incremental innovation, a pioneering concept by Erik Brynjolfsson. Like the Industrial Revolution, an economic and social inflection point is taking place because of technology – but this time it’s digital technology. This is all playing out in the smart city arena as combinations of new and traditional technologies are completely redefining what is possible and creating many new opportunities and challenges across all city systems.

The Distributed Energy Future

The watchword in energy is distributed. Our big, centralized electric power systems are transforming as distributed energy resources (DERs) plug into the mainstream market. As noted in this whitepaper, the U.S. is shifting dramatically toward an energy framework where solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, wind, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, demand response, energy storage, microgrids and combined heat and power generation are major features.

This distributed shift is enabling energy consumers to become energy producers, placing more control into the hands of the many. It opens up exciting new avenues for utilities and customers to work together to advance green energy and diversify the range of assets that can provide energy and grid services. In the smart city context, DERs provide the foundation for collaborative, progressive and yes, transformational, ways to produce, manage, and distribute energy.

Sounds ideal, right? Well, like most emerging technologies, these DERs also present challenges. Despite decentralization, DERs are still part of a much larger system that needs to be coordinated in order to improve, rather that threaten, energy resilience. In addition, the industry needs to change conventional electric production and distribution planning processes to support fully the complex demands of DERs. The design of legacy distribution infrastructure does not support the two-way power flow required to take advantage of some of these new technologies. This technology transformation urges electric utilities and cities to understand the disruptive impacts on the grid.

Take a minute to consider the magnitude of this in two dimensions—the new technologies and the operational complexity of managing the distributed system. For example, Hawaii plans to have 100% of its electricity coming from renewable energy resources by the year 2045. The amount of renewables required to build this energy future presents a large enough challenge. However, the challenge mounts when we factor in a complex mix of customer-owned generation, firm biofuel generation, utility-scale renewables, energy storage, and distribution assets, as well as the need to manage vastly distributed systems, with customer assets hidden behind the meter. Advanced tools and programs like those below will help us manage the intricacy:

• We must track system power distribution and quality via advanced distribution management systems to ensure that overall system requirements are managed.
• Demand response programs must scale to consider the wide range of customer DERs.
• Advanced modeling and analytics can pinpoint optimal DER locations and needed upgrades to support high DER penetration.
• Analytics and modeling can guide exploration of a range of technical, economic, market and behavioral scenarios to inform the renewables roadmap.

I will explore the effects of new technologies at the upcoming Meeting of The Minds conference, alongside Rich Barone from Hawaiian Electric and other technology leaders. As you will learn, the scale and speed of incremental innovation are enabling a very different and exciting future.

Managing for Water Resilience

For a growing number of communities, smart water is about resilience. Our water systems must be resilient enough to endure floods, droughts and human threats while reliably supplying clean water and managing stormwater and wastewater needs. Advanced water management technologies can give utilities and cities an edge by helping to address these diverse resiliency needs in both day-to-day circumstances and in periods of duress.

In terms of technology, the power of incremental innovation shines brightly here. The combination of new sensor technology, massive data sets, predictive analytics, and cloud computing brings water systems to life, enables adaptability, and guides appropriate actions.

For example, a risk-based analytics framework can identify and evaluate options to enhance water system resilience against events such as flood, drought or terrorism. These smart tools help water utilities simulate disruptions on a grand scale and identify the best means to manage the situation across planning, design, and operational perspectives.

Using the same smart tools, utilities can compare project portfolios to improve raw water storage, transfer and network interconnections. The results help prioritize improvement options and focus capital investments on the initiatives that produce the highest benefits and lowest risks for varying spending levels.

In the context of smart cities, resiliency also means the ability to manage water needs in increasingly larger, denser urban areas where the stakes get higher as populations rise. In these areas, the needs are more complex, green space is limited, and the costs associated with disruption are magnified.

Street Side Communications

As a bite-sized beginning to smart city progress, cities are adding sensors and a range of communications networks to their street-side assets. To complement community-scale broadband networks, Wi-Fi, small cell, and distributed antenna systems (DAS) are being used to add targeted telecommunications capacity in key areas. Through this technology infusion, streetlight poles, phone booths, bus shelters, and electric vehicle (EV) charging kiosks become multi-tasking technology platforms that connect people with the city, invigorate urban spaces, boost efficiency, enhance public safety, and drive future connectivity.

Smart street furniture provides an immediate array of benefits like free Wi-Fi, “way finding” and public transit information, community announcements and mobile charging. They also enhance public safety via video cameras, 911 callboxes, public safety alerts, lighting control, gunshot detection and a range of environmental sensors, which help city staff better understand and manage events.

Kiosks can even provide revenue streams and streetlights can reduce city expenditures through energy and maintenance savings. However, cities will see the true value of smart street side assets over time. As cities achieve greater levels of connectivity, they can use the communications infrastructure established for smart street furniture to further connect city systems, allowing electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities to work in harmony with other systems such as transportation and emergency response—the essence of a smart city.

A System of Systems

Time and space prevent me from examining all of the critical systems that will undergo major upgrades with the infusion of smart technology. Water and energy are great examples of how leveraging technology can achieve dramatic improvements in individual system performance and how to manage and coordinate actions across very distributed and complex situations. But, the story does not stop there—it gets really interesting when smart systems interact with other smart systems!

Imagine a city that can manage all critical functions collectively. Where city services naturally expand, contract, and shift focus as needs change. Imagine a reality where systems share an awareness of emerging situations and react by finding alternative paths and best options for optimal response.

This Smart City technology revolution is just starting. We are seeing it first within specific “smarter” systems and in the rapid advances in coordination across distributed devices. The next wave of innovation will feature systems working together to enhance value and speed, powered by the Second Machine Age.

For more insight into smart city trends, review Black & Veatch’s Strategic Directions Smart City/Smart Utility Report (2016).

This blog post is part of a series. Read the next post: Citizens: Smart Cities Best Partners